


not where the wounded are (not where the nations die)

by WindyRein



Series: what the dust reveals [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Assassins & Hitmen, BAMF Allison, Character Death, Established Relationship, F/F, Gerard Argent Dies, Getting Together, Grief/Mourning, Implied Torture, Incorporeal Wings, Kate Argent Dies, Kinslaying, M/M, Minor Character Death, Morally Ambiguous Stiles Stilinski, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Not Beta Read, POV Female Character, POV Multiple, Peter Hale Deserves Nice Things, Peter Hale Feels, Sorry Not Sorry, Spies & Secret Agents, You get wings when you meet your soulmate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 09:28:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20095054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindyRein/pseuds/WindyRein
Summary: She just wanted to get away and they weren't made for a peaceful life.Or, that time Talia ran for Congress and shit hit the fan.





	1. where his pickets hide

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Handler Protocols and Other Related Things](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11037255) by [WindyRein](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindyRein/pseuds/WindyRein). 

> Read the tags!!!
> 
> READ THE TAGS!!!!
> 
> **READ THE GODDAMN TAGS!!!!!!**
> 
> So, the long-awaited sequel to [Handler Protocols and Other Related Things](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11037255) is finally here. Beware, here be monsters.  
Seriously, this is not a fun and fluffy romp through soulmate-land, which... apparently my muse misses the blood and gore of [Birthright](https://archiveofourown.org/series/244207)? :D who knew spending years building a serial killer 'verse and then dropping it cold turkey would leave your muse thirsty for that sweet, sweet blood xD (i didn't drop it, there was nothing left to tell)
> 
> All titles from Rudyard Kipling's [The Spies' March](https://www.bartleby.com/364/63.html).  
Thaaank you, [Mari](https://marithehighpriestessofmoloch.tumblr.com/) for introducing me to this poem. This fic wouldn't exist without it. <3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You may have created my past, and screwed up my present, but you have no control over my future.” (David Klass)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> picket  
"a soldier or small group of soldiers performing a particular duty, especially one sent out to watch for the enemy."

Lis had come to the US and to the West Coast in particular, to get away from her family. She'd gone to the apartment she had rented before arriving, taken one look at herself in the mirror and decided she needed a haircut.

After that decision, she realized that if she actually wanted independence from her family, she'd need a job. Actual, real life independence after all didn't come just from distance but money as well.

Finding a job, she soon found out, was harder than she'd thought. But she didn't give up. She wouldn't. That's not what her avoa had taught her, and if there was one family member she would take advice from right now it was her avoa.

So, she went to her little apartment with its mismatched furniture and lived in feel that would've made her mother gasp in horror before ordering a cleaning service and _some proper furniture, really, this is just a mess_ and wallowed in self-pity for a few hours before eating something and making some - - She didn't have any coffee left. She could actually feel the tears starting to gather at the corners of her eyes but she took a deep breath and let it out like she'd been taught. Then she pulled out her phone and looked up coffee shops in the vicinity.

The best coffee in town was apparently only a block away from her. She wondered how it had taken her so long to find that out. Well, doesn't matter. She knew now and she was going to get it.

She gathered her keys, wallet and laptop and headed over after checking her phone for the address.

\---

_Shadow Book & Brew_ ended up being a cosy little thing populated by what looked like half the students in the area, which Lis understood the moment she saw the "free wifi" sign and the relatively low prices for the drinks.

There was a cute redhead in one corner of the shop frowning down at three physics books she had open in front of her. Sadly, Lis noticed, she already had her wings and Lis knew she wasn't lucky enough to crush on someone with a platonic bond. In another corner, there was a passionate, and loud, debate going on about... She wasn't sure but it sounded like Poison Ivy and would she be able to control the plants in Harry Potter. Lis decided she was better off not seeming like she was interested, or even knew what they were going on about, and turned her gaze to the menu.

It didn't take long for the customers in front of her to get served and then it was her turn, and she still had no idea what to order.

There was a bubbly, violet-haired girl behind the counter and she must've been used to customers who didn't know what they wanted, since she started telling her about some "steal-your-soul-and-heart" dark roast they'd apparently just gotten.

Lis decided that was exactly what she needed and ordered a large mug to-go. She needed to get back to her job-hunting after all.

***

A week later, Lis finds herself drowning in beginner courses and self-pity for _still_ being jobless. She doesn't even care that she's in public and very close to crying into this surprisingly comfortable tabletop. She didn't have coffee or the money to spare on it and still she found herself at _Shadow_ yet again. Miraculously she hadn't been asked if she wanted something and no-one had even told her she needed to leave for disturbing the customers or not buying anything or whatever reason the staff could come up with.

Then there's the clunk of a cup being set on the table and someone says, "I can't stand watching this pathetic pity party. What's wrong?" and though it's more command than question Lis finds herself talking and soon she lifts her head and talks some more and in moments she's ranting about no-one wanting to hire a foreigner and what's wrong with her being French instead of American, what exactly makes her someone no-one seems interested in hiring, and that's when she notices it's the redhead with the wings and she chokes on her tongue.

The redhead's frowning and after a moment, she turns her head and yells, "Stiles, you need a worker, right?"

There's nothing for a second, not even a reaction from the customers, who today seem to be students buried in books and essays, and then a head pops up from behind the counter and Lis doesn't know what to make of the guy. He's clearly a barista at _Shadow_ and just as clearly a student.

Lis registers piercings, a peek of a tattoo and a lot of plaid before the guy, Stiles apparently, reaches her table and pulls a chair out before straddling it.

He offers a hand and a sunshine smile with his greeting, "Hi, I'm Stiles, as you may have heard. This place's co-owner. How can I help you?"

And then, for some reason she can't fathom even weeks later, she's talking again, though with less ranting this time, and she can't stop the tears and she's so embarrassed when she finally ends with, "and I'm Lis, by the way, Lis Plata."

"Well, Lis," the guy says, grinning, "It's your lucky day, since I just had one of my people quit on me since they'd finished college and wanted to move up North."

This time when she cries, the tears are pure joy and relief and thank god, she can afford food, and rent, again. She almost topples Stiles off his chair and the both of them to the floor with her hug.

They talk details for something close to fifteen minutes and then Stiles leaves, calling for someone called Peter and as an aside seems to add to Caitlin, the violet-haired girl she'd met that first time, to take over the register for a while.

When she turns to the girl that'd gotten her the coffee, the redhead's smiling and she realizes suddenly she doesn't even know her name. She's not sure when the last time was she blushed so hard.

***

The redhead turns out to be Lydia, the self-proclaimed brain behind _Shadow_ in her free time. They turn out to like some of the same books and Lydia even speaks a bit of French because she'd gotten bored with different variations of Latin a little after starting college, so the Romance languages had seemed like a natural continuation. She already spoke passable Italian and tourist amounts of Spanish, according to herself, though Lis was starting to think she might be underestimating her skills.

(it turned out she was right and lydia's probably a genius of some kind)

***

The file reads:  
_Peter Hale, codename Perun. Left Blackwood Security, where most of his family (see files on Talia Hale, Laura Hale, Derek Hale) is employed, after manifesting his wings._  
Soulmate unknown, though one of BS's own freelance agents, codename Veles, stopped taking jobs at the same time, suspected soulmate.  
BS's soulmate policies possible reason for both leaving if soulmates.  
After leaving Perun opened a coffee shop, currently called Shadow Book & Brew_. Perun hasn't displayed signs of being involved in the intelligence community after leaving._  
Specialty: infiltration, asset acquisition & management, information gathering  
Threat level: Consider armed & deadly at all times.

She reads it through and wonders about it. Hale was a good agent and a better handler, mostly because his best skills lay in making people do things they didn't want and making them think those things were their ideas originally. Though, she had to admit Veles had been a good match for Hale from what she'd heard.

***

When she starts at _Shadow_, her orientation pretty much starts with "don't mind the vets, Tuesdays and Thursdays are support group days." It doesn't really get easier after that but at least there's no other mention of support groups and she just needs to focus on how all the fancy coffee-making machinery works.

By the end of her first week, she's exhausted but ecstatic that she's actually doing something for her money instead of just using what's handed to her.

***

There's something odd about _Shadow_ and some of its customers. Maybe even its owners or maybe mostly its owners. But it's not like any of it's her business so she lets it go.

(she still notices that some of the customers act really shady and only talk to stiles)

***

She has to admit she never thought they'd stay away as long as they did. But three weeks after starting at _Shadow_ she gets an email from her mother filled with words like _duty_ and _family history_ and _childish_.

(she gets another from her father that only says _we love you. we'll be here when you want to come home._)

***

A week later, there's a package on her doorstep when she gets home. There's no stamp or mailing address. There's a sleek knife in a holster inside the box and a gun with three full extra magazines on top of the one already loaded in.

(there's a message as well. _to keep you safe from burglars and boys. your best friend_)

(she knows it's not from lydia. that doesn't stop her from strapping the knife to her ankle from that day onwards. she leaves the gun in a locked drawer in her apartment.)

***

The file reads:  
_Veles, recruited by JB (see file on Accepted Recruiters). Hasn't answered any communications after PH (see file on Peter Hale) left BS's employment. Unknown if because PH's soulmate or didn't want another handler. Soulmate unknown._  
BS's soulmate policies possible reason for both leaving if soulmates.  
Intel suggests Veles has continued his studies at UCLA after refusing communications.  
Specialty: infiltration, sabotage, reallocation of property, long distance assassination.  
Threat level: Consider armed & dangerous at all times.

***

(a week later talia hale, congress hopeful and her boss' older sister is shot.

it's all over the news and she can't help wondering...)

***

Peter is, well, a mess, to be honest. It's completely understandable of course. Apparently he's the executor of his sister's will and there's all sorts of legal hoops for him to jump through before anything can be given even to her kids.

It doesn't take long for him to pull himself together, though Stiles coming back from his business trip probably helps with that.

(she wonders if she should say something. her lip hasn't been this bitten since her avoa died.)

***

She watches Hale for a couple weeks and sees him falter. She wonders if she could make some quick cash by taking him out but no-one she reaches out to seems interested. She's disappointed but vows to be the one to get the bounty if anyone ever puts one out.

(though the kid seems like he'd be a nice toy to play with for a while)

***

Dad sends her an email with a plane ticket to Lyon and asks her to come see her grand-père. Dad says he doesn't have long _(some spiteful part of her wishes the bastard would just die)_ and couldn't she please at least come and say goodbye.

She turns it over and over for weeks. On one hand, her grand-père is the reason for her current situation but then again, on the other, her grand-père's dying and she doesn't know if she can just go on without saying some kind of a goodbye.

***

"I... I'm gonna need to take some time off."

"Oh? Everything alright, Lis?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's just my grand-père's been sick for a long time and the doctors think he doesn't have a lot of time left."

"Okay, okay, take all the time you need. Though if it seems like you need more than a month, I'm gonna need to look for a replacement."

"I understand. ... Thanks."

"Hey, it's your family and family comes first, yeah?"

***

The house at Lyon is probably the oldest their family owns and thus the fanciest. She's never known what to make of the coats of arms and swords and suits of armour sprinkled all around the house _(mansion)_. It seemed ridiculous and pompous and ostentatious and all sorts of other things ending in -ous.

***

Her grand-père... He tries, she supposes. But he's always been cold and distant and very conscious of "the duty we have to our family and its continuation, Allison" and none of that really meshed with how she felt about herself or with what she wanted to do with her life _(travel, see every last corner of the world, **help people**)_.

And now he's dying and she still doesn't know how to feel about him or her family.

"I see you've met your soulmate.", he says and she cringes internally.

(erica had blown into shadow one day like a hurricane and demanded the darkest, strongest coffee allison could legally give her and allison had looked up from trying to figure out what stiles' latest note was supposed to read and then erica's wings had unfurled and allison had felt her own wings spread behind her in joy and they'd smiled goofily at each other until isaac, standing behind erica, had started bitching about coffee withdrawal)

"So, tell me about him."

This time she doesn't even try to suppress her cringe. "It's a her, actually, and she's wonderful."

The room goes silent. And cold.

She just straightens her back and doesn't back down like she's done all her life where her grand-père's been concerned.

(she thinks this is what avoa had meant when she talked about being herself no matter what)

(dinner that evening is a cold and formal affair with stilted conversation about her studies and job and the family business. she wants to laugh at how uncomfortable everyone seems with the idea of her having a girl for a soulmate.)

***

She wakes up to running and shouting outside her room. She opens the door just in time to see Kate charge down the stairs with a scream of rage.

There's running somewhere downstairs and then Kate's shooting at whoever it is and Allison grabs her knife from under her pillow and goes after her aunt and the intruder.

***

She knows she has to make a choice. She has to make it now _(this is where she chooses sides)_.

Will she choose the family she has always known, the family she fled instead of suffocating under their expectations or the family she made for herself, the family held together by bonds and laughter instead of blood and history?

She has to make a choice even with both of them having lied to her.

(she looks from her aunt with her smug _of course she'll choose me_ smirk to her boss with his carefree grin gone and the longsword steady in his hands and ... she doesn't know which she'll choose)

The silence continues.

***

She has her hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate, she thinks, but she doesn't really register it. She's stuck in her head.

Stuck with the image of surprise on Kate's face.

Stuck with the blood blooming suddenly.

Stuck with her hands trembling with the sudden weight of the gun.

(stuck with _of course you'll choose family it's what you were raised for_)

(there are arms around her that are a comfort instead of a shackle and a soft voice in her ear that's calm instead of insidious)

(she doesn't cry until they're in the backroom at shadow and then she ugly-sobs all over her boss and gets the week off that she spends sitting in a corner of shadow with a never-ending supply of hot chocolate)

***

She's not sure this is where she wanted to end up when she moved to the States but it's where she is now.

A job at a coffee shop she's seen more politicians' and CEOs', even diplomats', kids in than she ever thought lived in this town.

Her part of the family heritage probably going to whichever cousin her mom thinks is the best for it and her only blood-relative still talking to her being her dad.

Her soulmate... Erica is a storm and a hurricane, is a dead calm ocean and petrichor in the spring. She is everything Allison never knew she was missing. The best part is Erica keeps her sharp and on her toes, questions her morals and decisions and makes sure she's chosen what she's chosen because it's what Allison wants and not what her family and society in general would expect of her.

She's never been happier.

(and if she builds her own connections, well, that's her business...)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you mean foreshadowing in the title, nah man, you're seeing things xD
> 
> Avoa meaning grandmother in Old Portuguese and/or Galician depending on sources. And Galician nobles have at least been a thing (i couldn't find anything about them still being a thing. mostly because my spanish is hella rusty and, like, three years of high school spanish doesn't really lend itself to reading non-fiction on nobility xD so, shh, it's artistic licence)  
Yes, the Argents are actual facts nobles (in france) in this and Gerard married a Galician noble-woman. Not that any of that really comes into play but it exists in the background and I figured you'd like to know :D


	2. when Death breaks loose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Take no prisoners, leave no enemies." (Unknown)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where having read the tags and made the choice of _willingly_ going forward becomes important. I'm not taking any responsibility if you get yourself traumatized after I've warned you several times about reading the tags.

It took a while _(something shy of a year, he thinks)_ but Stiles started itching for something. Something to do, something to steal, someone to _kill_. He knew Peter felt the same way, so he started looking into hits and other jobs they would be able to perform and the kind of money they'd get out of it, who was behind them, where to find the best paying gigs. That sort of thing.

And that's how it started, him bored and trawling _(and trolling)_ the darknet forums.

(and yeah, maybe throwing his name around and pretending to be a newbie pretending to be him was what he _(and peter even if the bastard didn't admit it)_ got his kicks from for a couple of months but then someone started talking about actually taking down this _fake veles trying to ride on skills he didn't have and achievements he could've never managed_ and when the first attempt at tracking him down pinged off the servers and firewalls danny, the son of one of the best in digital security, had set up to hide his actual identity he decided the time for games had come to an end.)

So, when the job was posted he did some research, a bit of recon and talked it through with Peter and so one of LA's biggest Russian gangs lost its head _(for a while, the boss' daughter had been more than eager to finally get to the top)_.

When he got the "job done, proved" mark at the forum, it got some people off his back but some got even more interested, and some, he suspected, started actually putting some effort into researching who exactly he was.

And so it went for a couple of years. He, or Peter, got the itch and they found a suitably challenging job with a good pay-out and _Shadow_ got an anonymous donation from someone wanting to support local businesses. Never so much that it would get them noticed, of course.

And then he graduates and it's all finding jobs and trying to figure out the sort of life that'll let him do the occasional side job.

(it's around this time that peter points out talia running for congress and they start betting on how many awkward questions about talia's former part in the intelligence community will come up during the campaign)

(and somewhere in there "lis plata" shows up desperate for a job and of course they know who she is but hey, keeping your enemies closer is more than just a fancy saying in their field)

***

When nothing happens for three months, he drops the active surveillance. Though he still keeps the keyword alarm on her calls and texts, anything communication-related really.

(he's neither a fool nor anything but practical)

***

It's somewhere between Talia's announcement and Lis' six month anniversary at _Shadow_, that he decides to become a freelance photographer. He'd come to realize after a month or so working strictly for a newspaper and only that newspaper that he really chafed under someone having that much control over his work.

His business card says photojournalist but really he's more of a ooh-that-looks-interesting-point-and-_click_-er. The business courses he'd taken just in case really come in handy with the shop since Peter, for all his intelligence and education, really doesn't know how to manage smallish amounts of money that aren't mission budgets. The benefits of coming from Old Money™, he supposes.

***

He's somewhere in the Hindu Kush mountains staking out a camp of rebels or freedom fighters or whatever they're calling themselves, he doesn't care, when Peter's call comes through.

He hums low in his throat after answering and Peter's voice flows into his ear. He notices the tension and clipped tones immediately but he doesn't have the attention to spare right now for worrying since his target has finally showed his face outside for the first time in four days and he'd really like to get home some time soon.

"Give me a sec", he mutters cutting Peter off mid-sentence.

He takes a deep breath, lets it out and in between a beat of his heart and the next pulls the trigger. After all, he actually needs to concentrate since this is one of the longer shots he's ever had to make.

There's the usual amount of chaos when a leader suddenly goes down but he's already packing up and leaving when the first shots echo from far behind him. By the sounds of them, they're aiming far too close to the compound to even luck out in hitting him.

"Sorry, mój serce, but I've no idea what you've been saying."

That's when he hears the slight waver in Peter's breathing and he snaps to attention.

"Talia was shot." He freezes and he's already thinking about who it could've been and why, how they _(whoever "they" are)_ could've gotten close enough, how _no-one noticed_ a shooter and what the actual fuck Talia's security detail was doing.

"Do you have any ideas who it could've been?" He moves on to the actually important details because he knows sympathy and comfort isn't what Peter needs right now.

"I haven't talked to the kids yet and it only just hit the news." Stiles knows his silence is judging Peter for relying on the _news_ of all things for his intel and he knows Peter knows it when he continues, "No-one's gotten back to me yet and those few I reached didn't know anything."

"So, one of the big players probably and not just some lone lunatic opposing her politics or something. Narrows the field, I suppose."

"Yeah, I" and Peter chokes on something, whether it's his rage or grief even Stiles doesn't know, "I really need you here."

"Yeah, love, I'll be there as soon as I can."

\---

When he walks on the military transport no-one says a word about his civilian clothes and lack of military ID. Whether it's the clear and painful murder written on his face or the _protectiveconfrontationalmysoulmate'sinpain_ slant to his wings he doesn't care.

(it's actually the way everyone on that plane can tell _(assume)_ he's black ops and, yeah, maybe the rifle sight poking out of his duffle helps a bit with that _(especially with the rumours flying around about an assassination in the mountains)_ but it's not like anyone's going to mention something to the obviously on-edge-just-finished-a-mission- i-eat-top-secret-for-breakfast guy, even if he looks like a fucking college student)

***

The first thing he sees when he walks into _Shadow_ is Lydia's stressed face and Lis and Caitlin's tiptoeing-around-the-about-to-erupt-volcano caution and he knows Peter's not taking things even close to well and he understands that but taking out his grief and need for vengeance on their friends and workers isn't good either.

He sighs and heads for the back.

***

Peter doesn't cry until he does. He shouts about incompetent security and snarls about vengeance and blood, and screams about Talia's idiocy and idealism, how she was so _blind_ to the world even after decades of witnessing the worst of it.

Then and only then, after one last whispered "I didn't even get to apologize", he collapses into Stiles' arms and sobs.

They don't move until the morning.

***

Adrian is just a broker. He doesn't know the details. He just connects people so when the kid sits next to him, he doesn't know what to expect.

Though it definitely isn't a blade against his back and, he's pretty sure, abdominal aorta.

"So, Adrian", the young man starts and Adrian knows that look in his eyes, knows the steadiness of his hand and voice, so he cuts him off before he can continue.

"I didn't do anything. I don't _know_ anything."

The man hums and the blade presses with more force. "See, I'd believe that if I didn't know you introduced the exact people I'm looking for. A sharpshooter, _a sniper_ probably, and someone with a lot of knowledge of things they shouldn't."

Adrian starts panicking because he knows immediately what this is about and he doubts he'll make it out alive no matter what he says. This man has to be Veles and his info says Veles works with Perun and Perun, everyone suspects, is Peter Hale and Peter Hale, everyone _knows_, is a vengeful bastard. The news about Talia Hale is barely leaving the news cycle and they'd already tracked him down.

"So, _Adrian_, who am I looking for? You have names, don't you?"

"You'll never get close enough to do anything." There's a scepticism in the man's eyes when Adrian spits it out.

"That'll be my problem won't it? Now, give me those names or we'll leave this nice place with all these nice people and go somewhere far less nicer with far less people and you'll still end up telling me."

There's a long silence while Adrian weighs his options. Betray the boss of one of the bigger players in intelligence or end up tortured for the information and most likely killed afterwards.

"And if I tell you here and now, will I get to live?"

The man grins, all sharp edges and predatorial focus, "Well, that's not up to me. But, if I had to guess, you're not important enough to bother killing."

Adrian's eyes widen and he thinks about everything he's heard about Peter Hale and swallows.

"It was Braeden Tandy and Deucalion Blackwood."

Veles' grin freezes, his eyes sharpen and he rises suddenly and leaves without saying anything else.

Adrian breathes out a sigh of relief.

***

It takes a while to track down the merc considering Duke's far too well-protected for them to do anything without months of prep. Well, a surprise attack in the street would probably work as well but that would also end up with one or both of them dead and that's pretty much the opposite of what they want.

Of course, there's also figuring out what exactly Duke thought he'd get out of the assassination. Is it a general fear reaction he's after? Is it to get better business in personal security? Is it something far more personal and to do with her family, maybe Peter specifically?

They don't know but they'll soon start unravelling the threads of Duke's reasoning.

***

"Hmm, what do you think?" Veles tilts his head towards him and he knows whatever he says will be done.

"I think, she can't walk away without paying a price."

And they both turn to the mercenary tied to a chair. Peter relishes in the way the woman is looking warily from him with his blood-splattered wings and stony expression to Veles with his wicked smile and vibrantly playful wings.

He knows Veles like he knows his soulmate's odd fascination with mimicking a mix of Harley Quinn and the Joker in front of people who know who he is, or at least the alias BS gave him.

Veles chuckles and jumps off the table he's been sitting on and starts walking around the woman dropping possibilities as he rounds her.

"Burn the wing sockets, maybe."

Peter thinks it over and shakes his head. That isn't visible enough, after all if someone sees this woman he wants them to know what happens to those that cross them even if it's only as someone else's weapon.

"Remove her kneecaps, then." Peter grimaces at the image and Veles' grin says _they should've named me Tepes_.

Peter takes a few steps forward and there's panic starting to form in the merc's eyes. How quaint.

He caresses her cheek with one hand because his sense of drama is there even if it isn't quite as _much_ as his mate's, grabs her by the chin. "I think facial scars."

Stiles locks eyes with him over her head and there's a sharpness there, a sort of _are you sure? that doesn't seem like you_. His only answer is a hum and musing, "I want everyone to _see_ what happens when you go after the Hales, even as a tool."

Veles shrugs and pulls out a knife. He circles around to stand in front of the woman while Peter moves out of the way. Veles licks the blade (behind the woman, peter rolls his eyes) before settling on her lap and saying, "Please hold still. After all, Perun doesn't want you dead."

(peter has to admit when the woman finally breaks and screams it's like the sweetest concerto to his ears)

(it's when she sobs _it was just a warning, he just wanted to warn her_ that they get interested)

\---

It's worse, Braeden thinks, that they don't say anything. At least if they said something, she'd know what they thought about the whole thing.

She'd know if the information she'd given them was enough to keep her alive.

(she didn't think they'd kill her for a warning shot but she couldn't be sure)

(she feels a pinch in her neck and nothing and then a hospital. she survived. for now.)

***

"Who'd benefit? I mean, I get Duke going after her but who else has the manpower and resources to pull something like this off and on top of that the will."

"That we haven't ruled out."

"Well, duh."

\---

"Talia's main platform for the folks on the right was getting Defence contracts restricted to US-only contractors, wasn't it?" Stiles' voice is musing and far away. He's been staring at computer screens and political jargon and manoeuvring for longer than he would like to count at this moment.

"Yeah", Peter calls from the kitchen, "what of it?"

"Arsenal de Argent."

There's a frozen silence and then a clatter as something falls from suddenly nerveless fingers.

They have their target and the Argents will feel their fury.

***

"Perun wanted you to suffer but more than that he wanted you to know, you should've stayed away from Talia Hale."

Argent's face is a rictus of rage but he can't move, Veles made sure of that. Gerard was already dying, they knew. He would probably be dead within the year actually but that wasn't enough. Not for Peter's revenge or Stiles' peace of mind.

He takes out the syringe hidden in his jacket pocket, never looking away from Gerard and depresses the plunger just enough to push out air bubbles. He raises it so Gerard can see it and says, "This is a concoction a friend of mine came up with because they think they're clever and funny. It's basically aspirin but about a hundred times stronger. You'll die in maybe an hour and be in agonizing pain for every last second of it."

Gerard just glares at him. Veles is extremely grateful he thought to put duct tape over the man's mouth so he doesn't have to listen to whatever useless threats the man would throw at him.

He nudges Gerard to his side, locates his abdominal aorta and presses the needle in before emptying the syringe straight into the artery.

He stays just long enough for Gerard to start seizing and having respiratory issues and for him to get video for Perun.

He slips out of the room and runs almost straight into Katherine.

Fuck his life seriously.

***

Katherine's not bad with a sword, he's loathe to admit.

He can't help but boggle as she tries to explain her actions to Lis (allison, whatever).

"It was for the good of the family and its legacy."

He wants to facepalm at that but he's still not sure if Lis will shoot him and he needs to see to be able to dodge.

***

Deucalion walks into his office at home, flips the light on and doesn't scream at Peter Hale sitting in his chair. Hale's flipping through a file, he can't tell which one at the distance, but whatever it is Hale doesn't seem impressed, though the bastard always seemed to think himself above everyone else so that's not surprising even if it's irritating.

Deucalion takes a couple of steps, just enough to seem like he was expecting this. He opens his mouth and the door slams shut behind him. He curses himself and goes to turn around when there's a prick at his neck. He grabs at the hand there and everything's swaying even as he finishes turning and comes face to face with a mask that looks like it came straight out of a Japanese horror movie. He pulls on the hand he's holding even as he can feel himself losing control of his limbs. He doesn't manage anything of substance before everything goes black.

\---

He wakes tied to a chair. He's still in his office. He hasn't been blindfolded, hasn't been gagged. His hands are tied behind his back and he knows this chair is sturdy enough it would take some real effort, not to mention time, to break out of it.

"So," Hale starts. He's still sitting in Duke's chair and flipping through even more confidential files. "You took a shot at Talia." There's the sound of shifting fabric behind him and he wonders if the masked person is trying to break into his safe.

"I didn't shoot her."

"Of course not. You'd never get your hands dirty."

"I didn't hire the shooter that killed her."

"We know." from behind him and a blade at his throat.

"Then what do you want?", he snaps at Hale.

"Revenge", a pause, "and a reason."

"A reason? She needed to remember the sort of life she'd left and what was at stake if she went running her mouth."

Hale looks up from the files he's flipping through and his expression questions Duke's sanity or intelligence, maybe both.

"You actually thought that Talia Hale, the Director of Operations for Blackwood Security for eight years, would share confidential information that would hurt her former operatives or her family. I never realized how much of your stupidity Talia covered for."

He doesn't even get time to answer before he's knocked out again.

***

"Oh my god." Stiles says, pushing his mask aside, "Can you imagine that idiocy?"

Peter just pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. Stiles lets him be, he has a lot to sort through now that they, _finally_, have their answers from all fronts.

He spends his time going through the documents, confidential and embarrassing both, sorts through the cash he finds, makes note of the names on the passports and just generally goes through every nook and cranny he can find.

Finally, Peter lets out a long breath and straightens. "We won't kill him but he won't walk away either."

Stiles just shrugs. He'd figured as much. "So, any idea what you want?"

"Can you keep him under through pain?"

He scoffs, "What do you take me for? Of course, I can."

***

He thinks he's starting to wake and he tries to shake his head to get rid of the fuzziness and he hears, "This might sting a little but don't worry, you won't be awake for it."

And everything goes black again.

***

Peter thinks about Talia's disapproving frown hiding warmth when he wrings the excess liquid from the cloth.

Peter thinks about Derek not smiling since his mother died while pinning Deucalion's eyes open.

Peter thinks about Laura pretending like she's not falling apart, floundering in an unknown world while filling the eye dropper.

Peter thinks about Cora not talking, retreating into her head while methodically adding drops of lye to Deucalion's eyes.

Peter thinks with a bitter burning in his throat about all the things he didn't get to say while laying the lye-soaked cloth over Deucalion's eyes.

Peter thinks it's not enough, even if this destroys the bastard's life, it'll never be enough, while watching Deucalion stir on the forest floor.

***

He wakes.

He thinks he wakes. He can't open his eyes.

He raises his hands to try and find what's blocking his vision.

There's nothing. All he can feel is wet tissue and pain, so much pain.

He screams. He runs. Runs and runs and drops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mój serce meaning my heart in Polish according to the internet, so correct me if I'm wrong :D
> 
> Don't image search lye burns. Save yourself the trauma.
> 
> Also. Was it overkill? Probably. But then again, they didn't straight up kill Duke.
> 
> Alsoalso. Braeden's last name is shamelessly stolen from the actor that plays her, Meagan Tandy.
> 
> //edit; since I'm an idiot who forgets. The effective ingredient in aspirin is salicylic acid which comes from willows. Willow is also associated with Veles in myth, thus :D I'm funny and clever, shut up xD


	3. the smoke of our torment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Endings are hard. Any chapped ass monkey with a keyboard can poop out a beginning, but endings are impossible. You try to tie up every loose end…but you never can." (Chuck in _Supernatural_, s05e22)

A couple weeks later Laura calls them to tell Peter that Deucalion's body was found at the bottom of a ravine. She says there hasn't been anything official about his successor but the rumour mill says it'll be Marin Morrell.

Peter remembers Marin. He'd never really liked her. She was far too interested in keeping the balance of power, never trying to get ahead unless someone else would fall the same amount as she rose. It was unnerving and irritating and probably exactly what BS needed. It's not like Peter cares anymore. Not after Derek and Laura and Cora all made it clear they wouldn't be going into the "family business".

***

Stiles keeps an eye on Peter for days, weeks. He's not sure what he's waiting for, maybe some sort of mental break with the maniacal cackling and everything. It doesn't happen, of course, Peter's better at compartmentalization than that.

What there are, are nightmares. Peter wakes up screaming, wakes up crying, wakes up calling for help, wakes up tense and silent and unmoving. But Stiles is there. He's there through it all and slowly Peter gets better. After a while, he even starts talking to Laura, Derek, and Cora. It helps too. Helps all of the Hales heal.

***

Lydia's not surprised when Peter and Stiles start pulling farther and farther away from the everyday running of _Shadow_. She's a little surprised when they seem to put Lis in charge and Lis even seems to like the hustle and bustle.

She knows something's off about Peter and Stiles. She's known it since she started paying attention to them as more than just her providers of coffee. There's definitely something there. Something to do with Talia Hale and her history in the intelligence community. A history that might even involve Peter and now that she thinks about it maybe Stiles' trips have something to do with it as well and... No, she doesn't want to know. She's happier crushing the world of mathematics under her heel.

***

_Shadow_, well, _Shadow_'s a legend among the locals by then. It's where the post-grads and TAs tell the freshmen to go for anything be it advice or peace and quiet or just the free wifi and the books. It's where new students have their brains broken when they see their professors there grading exams or reading essays. It's where associates and paralegals drown themselves in coffee to get through a night of reading unnecessarily complicated documents for their bosses. It's where moms and drag queens sit at the same table talking about the latest soap opera or celebrity drama. It's, simply put, where life happens.

And if, every once in a while, _Shadow_ gets an anonymous donation, well, that's just good karma, ain't it?

**Author's Note:**

> Missed tags are appreciated and reviews are loved. :)
> 
> Also, you can find me on [tumblr](https://poutingtrolltroll.tumblr.com/) whining about writing semi-regularly.


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